Winter!

Less than a week ago I was sun-bathing on the mountain peaks... In the meanwhile first show of the winter arrived! It is real winter high on the mountains! I had to swap my trail running shoes for hiking boots...

Here are some photos taken this weekend on Postavarul and Piatra Mare mountains, near Brasov.

Winter

Well, although more snow is announced for the next days, the winter season is practically over in the city and the snow line is gradually going up in altitude as the springtime progresses.

It was a good winter with abundant snow. There were warm spells of weather that melted all the snow in the city, but on the mountains, above 1400m the snow accumulated the whole winter and will surely last well into the month of May.

It was a good season for my outdoor activities. I did running, skiing, off-piste skiing, powder snow skiing, ski touring and sometimes just hiking in the snow.

So it is time to look back to a few photos I took this winter season around Brasov. Some are taken with a proper camera, others with the mobile phone.

Ultra Light Skiing

Ever since I started to be more serious about trail running I was fascinated by how light the running equipment can be. I love the fact that trail running gives me the freedom to move so efficiently and quickly through the mountains. However I cannot say the same about my winter favorite sport: alpine skiing. It feels like from year to year the alpine skiing equipment gets heavier and heavier. Well, we also have ski touring equipment which tends to get lighter every new season, but it is still quite complex... ski boots, special bindings, skins. And my problem is that the touring ski boots are not quite suitable for walking.

What I want to do is to leave home and get on foot to Postavarul Mt. top, then ski back... On the most direct route, from home to top, it is just a bit over 10km, with 1200m elevation gain. In summer I can reach the top in under 2 hours (my record is 1h36min). Of course, in winter it takes longer, but the descent on skis is faster and more enjoyable...

With the warmer winters we have in the last decades, it is quite common that there is no enough snow to start on touring skis from the city. So if I want to do the whole round trip on foot, I have to carry the ski-boots in a backpack... but I hate backpacks. I would also fix the skis on the backpack, and the resulting weight to carry on my back is about 8-10kg... Not very comfortable.

Last years I was skiing mostly on short skis (a.k.a. snow-blades or ski-blades). They are easier and lighter to carry, but still I have to carry my boots. It is also a lot of fun to ski on ski-blades.

As I am a good skier I was wondering if I could ski in normal mountain boots. In fact when I started skiing I did it with leather boots... Then I remembered that I saw somewhere that snowboard bindings would work in short skis...

Time to experiment! I had a pair of ageing ski-blades just right for the experiment. I went and bought a pair of cheap but very decent snowboard bindings. I needed to add a riser, to lift each wide snow-board binding so it would not touch the snow on steep slopes. I made the risers myself from two pieces of oak wood that I had lying around in my garage. So here is the result:

I already used it tree times. What a joy! I can leave home in my boots without any backpack. I carry the ski-blades on my shoulder, using a strap ans that is all! I can quickly get to the top; no boots changing required, no skin removing from the skis on the top. On the top I just have to tighten my boot laces and put the skis on.

Skiing down is a lot of fun. Skiing in normal mountain boots forces me to be more careful and thoughtful about each move I make and about the route. It feels like in the old days! I ski slower.. so the pleasure of the descent takes longer! And what a feeling of accomplishment when I reach the base!

As I am an experienced skier, I find it quite easy to ski with this setup. The groomed ski slopes make it even easier. I would strongly do NOT recommend such a setup for a beginner skier and also not for off-piste skiing!

Skiing in boots on ski-blades gives me such a liberating feeling! I also think of my grandmother. In her time they did the same: walked up the mountain on boots carrying the skis on their shoulder, and then downhill on skis.

Here are the photos I took during such a ski tip I did yesterday morning. Not the best photo quality as I took them with my phone.

On the way to Poiana Brasov ski resort. I started early in the morning  so I would reach the top of the mountain before 9AM when the cable installations start bringing skiers up to the slopes. It was dark when I left home at 6:30 and I had to use a head-light for the first two kilometers through the forest. You can see that there is not enough snow for skis on the forest road.

Close the the top. I can see the Brasov Depression covered in fog. Up here the sky is cristal clear, and the snow just perfect for skiing!

On Postavarul Summit at almost 1800m altitude. What a view! And what a ski slope! It is just 9 AM, time to start the descent before the other skiers start to crowd the slopes... Almost 800m of elevation down on 3 km of perfectly groomed slopes await me!

Walking back to Brasov on the on Poiana Road. There is no snow for skiing down... Hopefully we will soon have more snow also on lower altitudes.

Rogaining!

Ro what? Rogaining?
What the heck is this??
I have never heard this word before!

This was my reaction when Nic, an old friend of mine told me that there is a new orienteering race format. Well, it is new in Romania, but quite old and popular in other countries.

So how does it work? Simple! Each team of 2 to 5 runners gets a detailed map (usually 1:25000) with control points, a time limit and after an hour and a half of studying the map and planning the route, off you go! Each control point is worth points. The more remote and more difficult to reach, the more valuable it is! The competitors decide for the best strategy to collect as many points as possible.

Saturday I competed in the first official Rogaining competition organised in Romania! Carpath Rogaining Trophy. It wasn't planned, but just three weeks before the competition my friend Nic broke his leg... He was already registered in the 8 hours race, and eager to participate, after winning a smaller scale demo competition earlier during the summer. So why not! Let's do it!

We had a bit of an unfair advantage as the competition area covered most of my usual running trails between Brasov and Postavarul Peak. However, most valuable checkpoints (9 points) were located in the thick and wild forests on the eastern side of Postavarul massif where I have never been before! So at least for half of the route it felt like on foreign lands...

There were only about 20 teams at the start, about 12 in our category: 8 hours men open. I hope that next edition there will be more teams. Even if this was the first edition, it was very well organised at a high standard! We had electronic sticks (SI-card) for quickly registering at the check points and they worked flawlessly. The map was of good quality, printed on a water resistant paper. There were 51 check points covering an area of about 90 square kilometers. The lowest ones were at about 650m altitude, the highest at 1500m. There were three points with water and food (bananas and energy bars). At the finish we had a pizza party... after 8 hours of running, the pizza and a big hot tea tasted soo goood!

Here is the map of the competition. Click on it for more details.

My team mate, Ion is a forest engineer. He has better skills than me at reading maps. On the other hand I knew the terrain better and I was moving a bit faster than him. Overall we complemented well each other and the teamwork went very well!

The weather was perfect for such a competition. Cool (10-15C), overcast and without wind. We had a few rain drops, but we were lucky. The proper rain started just 30 minutes after finish.

The start/finish area was in the ski resort of Poiana Brasov at about 1050m altitude.
Once we received the maps we immediately noticed that the east side of the map had the most valuable checkpoints. True that the terrain was more difficult and the distance between check-points greater, but we instantly knew we have to  start with the difficult part of the route and collect the fat points.
The initial planned route worked quite well. We planned a main route and decided later along the route which checkpoints we take and which we skip. We skipped just one 9-points post.
The plan was to take the easy ones at the end of the race on the return path. We did not have too much time left, but we arrived at finish 8 minutes before the end of the race... each minute of delay is taking away 1 point... not worth risking!

Towards the end of the race we missed one obvious 5-point checkpoint (number 59) as we misjudged the distance from the previous one - The path was downhill and we were moving faster that we thought.

At the end we surprised ourselves and the other finishers with a total of 179 points collected! Only one other team managed to get that many. A team from Estonia, the only foreign team. However, we finished about 50 seconds faster so according to the rules we took the first place! The third place was very close with 176 points! A team of experienced orienteering enthusiasts, but they did not venture far enough as we did. I am sure that they reached quite a few more checkpoints than us, but of smaller value.

As for the team from Estonia... well we were very impressed! On "neutral" terrain I am sure that they would have beaten us by a large margin. I am sure that for a foreigner, the area of this competition was not at all easy! Mostly in thick forest on steep mountain slopes with lots of deep valleys. I wished I had talked to them after the competition, but right after the medals ceremony the DJ pumped-up the volume of the music far too much... it was time for me to leave...

This was my very first orienteering type race. I have to say that rogaining is quite addictive! I will probably participate again next year at the second edition. Will I win again? I do not really care. I just hope that the bar will be raised, so there will be more and better teams! I am also now looking for a good mountain runner to form a faster team next year... In the meanwhile I should get more precise and faster with my reading skills!

I congratulate the organizers and the volunteers for a very well organised event at a very high standard! And thanks to all volunteers who endured the cold autumn weather.

Here is our route of the competition. A whole mountain marathon and a quite demanding one!
Notice the shape of the route... a running rabbit.. or fox...


Here are a few photos taken along the route. Well there was not much time for photos...

The first autumn colors

Following a shortcut on a trail left by a forest tractor

The view from the most spectacular checkpoint

One of the checkpoints with the electronic device on top.

Brasov Marathon 2017... Winter Edition

Brasov Marathon is a well organized mountain trail running race with a beautiful route along the same trails I use to run every week. I participated three times in this event. However, this time, for the second year in a row, I did not participate, although I was considering it. I still run a lot, but I do not feel the urge to compete in races.

This year edition was very special! The organizers were once more lucky to have a beautiful sunny day for the races, but the conditions were truly extraordinary! If the weather at some previous editions was sometimes too warm, this year it was not only too cold, the abundant fresh snow made it feel like in the middle of the winter!

It is not unusual to get cold weather spells and snow flakes during April in Brasov. However, this year it snowed almost continuously for two days in a row, and temperatures dropped below 0 degrees. It started to snow on April 19, Wednesday evening, and stopped two days layer, just half a day before the race... The snow in the town was about 30cm; up the mountains, the fresh layer of snow measured more than half a meter!

On Friday I went skiing enjoying the best powder of the season! I was thinking that the marathon race would be canceled. However, the organizers decided to go ahead, probably encouraged by the good weather forecast. The list of mandatory equipment was updated and the route was shortened a bit - the highest point would not be Postavarul peak, but Postavarul  mountain hut, located 200m lower, near the ski slopes.

The night from Friday to Saturday was very cold for an April night. The sky cleared over night and in the morning the landscape looked like in the middle of winter!

 

7AM in the morning I started from the edge of the city on my touring skis. The plan was to reach Postavarul Peak (1799m) in about 3 hours and move fast enough so the marathon runners would not catch me up.

 

Well, going up the mountain proved to be much tougher than I thought.  Even below 1000m altitude the snow was almost 50cm deep and there were just a few foot prints on the trail. I had to work hard for every meter of altitude. It became clear that at some point the runners will catch me.

 

This happened on Crucur Mountain, just before the trail reaches the ridge. First group of runners overtook me. They ran like a fast train, apparently not slowed down by the deep fresh snow. But I knew ho much extra effort is needed to keep going like that in deep snow.

On the last steep slope in the forest, just before reaching the ridge I got stuck in the deep snow with my skis. The runners kept coming and as I did not want to block the path I took the opportunity to take more photos of the race. Eventually my hands started to freeze and as there were fewer runners on the trail I moved on. After so many runners had passed the snow on the trail was packed, so it was much easier to go ahead.

 

A few more kilometers and I have reached the sunny ski slopes on Ruia plateau at 1500m altitude. As the ski season was officially closed, the ski slopes were almost deserted. Just one cable car was functioning as it is the case during the summer season... Here I left the marathon route and joined the ski touring trail... There were many skiers climbing the mountain on touring skis and enjoying the beautiful day.

 

I continued my way up and almost four hours after leaving home I have reached the mountain summit. After enjoying the mountain views I slowly descended on the mountain on my skis, enjoining every turn on the perfect slopes!

 

From Poiana Brasov ski resort I descended to the city on on skis through the forest. I knew that the old road of Poiana (Drumul Vechi) had enough snow, because I have skied it down the day before. However, this time the snow was melting fast under the strong April sun. I could just make it down on skis on the slushy snow... 

The spring was in the air again!

Here is the complete set of photos I took with the Marthon Runners.

And this is my day track:

Winter

This year we seem to have a normal December in Brasov. At least, it is how I remember it! So far, on most days this month the temperature stayed below zero degrees Celsius. Some mornings were really frosty, with temperatures less than -15C. We also have snow in the city for many days now...
After the last winters when we had higher and higher record temperatures and springtime like weather during the Christmas, this winter almost feels a bit odd... it just emphasizes the fact that the last winters were too warm!

Yesterday I took a photo stroll near Brasov, through the forests on Postavarul Mountain. All was still and frozen like it should be during a winter day. The sun is now about at the lowest above horizon as we are just days away from the winter solstice. The low sun, filtered through the forest canopy combined with the bright snow produces such a special lighting...

Here are some of the best shots of the day: